[note: many, if not most, of these links may no longer be working, but such is the nature of the digital. hopefully, the url and context are enough to help you find any further information you want. if not, feel free to contact me, and i’ll try to help.]
diciembre 2017
¡hola, difus@s!
since i’m egregiously late this month, i’ll try to keep this issue very, very brief… november was, on the whole, an excellent month, with many rewarding shows and almost no disappointments, almost.
on screen, god’s own country was tender and touching; as in oscar contender call me by your name, the parent-child relationships were more nuanced and, ultimately, moving than the romances, which is fine, given how few films manage to portray physical attraction or intimacy with any real vitality. the square was a delight, largely because it is, as jason farago has noted, the first trenchant (and, even, simply accurate) depiction of the contemporary art world in film.
on stage, animal wisdom was the kind of ghost quartet-like experience i’d been hoping for (even though it fell just slightly short of that high mark—except for the lighting design, which was extraordinary), and the exterminating angel is the kind of production the met needs more of—handsomely produced, beautifully sung, and, unlike so much at the met, entirely relevant. john cale’s shows at bam demonstrated how timeless and generative an album the velvet underground and nico remains and what a dynamic performer he still is. (admittedly, i’m less a fan of his solo work, but i’m now more smitten with caroline polachek for her channeling of nico.) ivo van hove’s adaptation of the fountainhead was oddly compelling hate-watching—as always, gorgeously designed and deftly acted—; by playing it straight, the production underscored how hollow and hollowing ayn rand’s “philosophy” and its current ideologues are. though david dorfman dance isn’t as conceptual as i tend to prefer, i found their aroundtown quite affecting, and i found myself hoping that it will travel nationally (especially to the fly-over areas we tend to ignore) because, like felix gonzalez-torres’ work, its politics are subtle but powerful. justin vivian bond’s politics may seem obvious, but no. they’re very nuanced and rigorously thought through, as v’s one-night stand at the skirball center riotously demonstrated. equally nuanced and rigorous in his politics (and every bit as endearing in his exposition of them), daniel kitson premiered new work in dc (yes, i was there for the opening, and, yes, i’m an even more ardent fan for having seen it) that i’m hoping he’ll bring to new york soon (so i can discuss it properly).
though we’re already a week into december, there’s still lots left to see, so let’s get to it. the short lists by category are below, and the full calendar appears, as always, at this e-pistle’s end.
performance + theater: a room in india is on at the park avenue armory, and mankind opens at playwrights horizons (i loved both robert o’hara’s bootycandy and barbecue). both early shaker spirituals and bright colors and bold patterns are back, and i highly recommend them. other shows i’d like to catch include intimatics i-iii, memory retrograde, and death! and the act of living. i’m all for twisted takes on the holidays, so i’m very excited to see justin vivian bond’s annual year-end show (this year’s title is particularly good: “manger danger! jesus as a weapon and a tool”) and, hopefully, “a murray little christmas”, also at joe’s pub.
music: several of this month’s (potential) highlights are holiday-themed. for a bit of fun, check out “the ugly sweater holiday party with genghis barbie” at the miller theatre or “the winter wonderland” theremin concert at joe’s pub. for some very traditional fare, go to the met museum for byzantine and baroque christmas music, or, for something more contemporary, listen to a new commission from nico muhly at the guggenheim’s annual holiday concert. the jack quartet plays “haas in the dark” at national sawdust to celebrate the winter solstice, and phil niblock plays his annual concert at roulette. for non-seasonal shows, the openice series at abrons, “nublu: music of now” at the wildproject, and stonefest at the new school (which includes personal favorites peter evans and the jack quartet) should all be excellent.
film: the week between christmas and new year’s is my favorite time to binge on film (and, luddite that i am, i prefer to do my binge-watching in the cinema rather than on the couch), largely because there’s so much good stuff to choose from. arriving at the start of the month, the other side of hope, loveless, and the shape of water are all (according to early reports) strong works from gifted directors; during the latter half of the month, i’m eager to see michael haneke’s latest, happy end (despite its mixed festival reception) and errol morris’ epic wormwood, which is playing at metrograph. as if that weren’t enough, film society has an amazing selection of films in its series “emotion pictures: international melodrama” (if you’ve never seen wong kar-wai’s masterpiece in the mood for love on the big screen, you must!), moma’s putting on a michelangelo antonioni retrospective, and the museum of the moving image screens its “curators’ choice 2017.”
dance: the two shows i’m most looking forward to this month are trisha brown company at the joyce and the charles atlas, rashaun mitchell, and silas reiner collaboration, tesseract, at bam. if i can squeeze them in, the first of the 92y's exploration of noguchi’s dance collaborations and dorrance dance at the joyce are two other shows i’d like to see. i’m really not much for nutcrackers (except mark morris’ the hard nut), but nut/cracked could be fun. (for a burlesque / nouveau cirque version, check out company xiv’s nutcracker rouge.)
art: the week between christmas and new year’s is also my favorite time to binge on art (my ideal day during that week: museums and galleries from morning to mid-afternoon, and movies from mid-afternoon to midnight). among my museum priorities are laura owens at the whitney, barbara hammer at the leslie-lohman (and anthropology film archives and metrograph), carolee schneemann at moma ps1, stephen shore at moma, and david hockney at the met. among the current gallery shows i’d like to see are elia alba at the 8th floor, maryam hoseini at rachel uffner, tunji adeniyi-jones at nicelle beauchene, anna conway at fergus mccaffrey, phil collins at tanya bonkadar, adam putnam at p.p.o.w., and rudolf stingel at gagosian.
if you’re still shopping for gifts, i implore you (don’t we all have too much stuff already?) to consider buying your loved ones memberships to arts organizations wherever they live and / or make donations in their honor to arts organizations elsewhere, especially in those states where the arts are significantly underfunded. you can always gift this newsletter for free here.
abrazos,
p
(ps: in case you’re wondering, the one disappointment from last month was xavier cha’s insipid buffer, which was, sadly, the only part of performa i managed to see. though its concerns are valid and probably look great—in written form—on proposals—especially the desperate inclusion of gay porn actors—, the work was an object lesson in the hubris of so much conceptual art with respect to the performing arts, whose craft and theory remain ignored by so many trained in / from the visual arts. performing artists would do well to invoke spike lee in the face of these visual / conceptual artists: "then comes the motherfuckin’ christopher columbus syndrome. you can’t discover this! we been here. you just can’t come and bogart.” #ryanmcnamaraistheworst)
december / deciembre
1-2: pam ann: miss worldwide (performance)
1-5: the cinema of gender transgression: trans film (film)
1-10: throw away your books: the films of shūji terayama (film)
1-10: tree pop, an imaginative pageant amongst the pines-an ode to friends that leave & objects that speak (performance)
1-10: upside down (theater)
1-13: shadowman (film)
1-16: karma mayet: race card (theater)
1-16: race card (performance)
1-17: the mad ones (theater)
1-20: greencard wedding (theater)/
1-23: today is my birthday (theater)
1-31: 100 days (theater)
1-31: goth(ic) (film)
1-: bright colors and bold patterns (theater)
1-: loveless (film)
1-: new york film and video: no wave-transgressive (film)
1-: so long boulder city (theater)
1-: the other side of hope (film)
2: byron westbrook: interval / forum (music, performance)
2: gamelan kusuma laras with i.m harjito (music)
3: dawn upshaw, special guest of the brentano string quartet (music)
3: new york philharmonic ensembles (music)
3: sight and sound: schoenberg, munch and expressionism (music)
3: studio dan / breaking news (music)
4-6: bridget everett & the tender moments (music, performance)
5: jeremiah cymerman: systema munditotius (music)
5: synth nights: catherine lamb (music)
5-20: a room in india (theater)
6: tallis scholars: heinrich isaac at 500 (music)
6-9: séancers (performance)
6-9: suddenly (theater)
7: american symphony orchestra: triumph of art (music)
7: bach piano concertos (music)
7: visions contemporary ballet 10-year anniversary performance: healing works (dance)
7-16: early shaker spirituals (theater)
7-: michelangelo antonioni (film)
8: la dolce morte (music)
8: orchestra underground: reflected in glass—philip glass and the next generation (music)
8-9: bang, bang, gun amok, 24 hour performance filibuster (music)
8-9: isaac oliver’s lonely christmas (performance)
8-10: the 70th anniversary of polish animation (film)
8-21: arthur miller: writer (film)
8-21: i am evidence (film)
8-: foxtrot (film)
8-: quest (film)
8-: the shape of water (film)
9: antenes: artifacts (music, performance)
9: https://www.92y.org/event/jeremy-denk-piano (music)
10-11: the skivvies: sleigh my name (music)
10-14: women in love (film)
11: after hours: a sound off from your local doormen (performance)
11: flaherty nyc: program 6: water (film)
11: intimactics i-iii (theater)
11: ugly holiday sweater party with genghis barbie (music)
12: beyond cassavetes: lost legends of the new york film world (1945-1970) (film)
12: make or break (a reading in verse) (theater)
12: the missing picture (film)
12-13: kabir carter: feelings are rooms ii (performance)
12-16: farmhouse/whorehouse: an artist lecture by suzanne bocanegra starring lili taylor (performance)
12-17: trisha brown dance company (dance)
13-15: darkness odyssey part 2: i or hallucination (dance)
13-16: tesseract (dance)
13-21: miss kiet’s children (film)
13-: emotion pictures: international melodrama (film)
14: barbara hammer: lesbian hands (film)
14: dog park (theater)
14: girlfriends (film)
14: plants (film)
14-15: openice fall series (music)
14-16: memory retrograde (performance)
14-23: justin vivian bond: manger danger! jesus as a weapon and a tool (performance)
15: after hours: a sound off from your local doormen (performance)
15: byzantine pop-ups (music)
15: isamu noguchi’s dance collaborations: a rare performance and discussion of expanding universe (dance)
15: killing for love (film)
15: the rape of recy taylor (film)
15-16: bangsokol: a requiem for cambodia (music, performance)
15-17: a murray little christmas starring murray hill, bridget everett, angie pontani & more (performance)
15-17: empathy (film)
15-17: nublu: music of now (music)
15-19: a stop-motion bestiary: the films of ladislas starewitch (film)
15-21: wormwood (film)
15-: curators' choice 2017 (film)
15-: killing for love (film)
15-: mankind (theater)
16: 222 w 23rd st. (theater)
16: auntie mame (film)
16: the princess bride (film)
16: tyondai braxton / like a villain (music)
17: barbara hammer: mischief and play (film)
17: tribute to leslie trumbull (1933-2017) (film)
17-18: holiday concert (music)
17-19: stonefest at the new school (music)
18: the civilians: strong women love trump (and other real live stories)(performance, theater)
18: the ny theremin society: dorit chrysler & rob schwimmer's winter wonderland (music)
19: death! and the act of living (performance)
19: gas (wolfgang voight) (music)
19-22: jonas mekas: 95 and counting (film)
19-31: dorrance dance (dance)
20: new york baroque incorporated: baroque holiday music and dance (music)
20-23: nut/cracked (dance)
21: jack quartet performs haas in the dark (music)
21: phill niblock: 6 hours of music and film (film, music)
22: a german life (film)
22-: happy end (film)
22-: the two of us (film)
24-31: only yesterday (film)
25: ella fitzgerald sings the gershwin songbook (film, music)
25-28: heat and dust (film)
26: casablanca (film)
31: sasha velour's nightgowns (performance)
31-: the snow queen (theater)